Officials begin exhumation of civilians caught in coverup
Colombian authorities are exhuming dozens of graves to determine whether the dead were civilians whom security forces falsely claimed were guerrillas.
Authorities say soldiers under pressure from their commanders killed thousands of civilians between 1998 and 2014 and claimed they were members of the FARC guerrilla group. They planted weapons on their victims and dressed them in fighters’ uniforms in a scandal Colombians have dubbed Falsos Positivos, or ‘‘False Positives.’’
The pace of killing increased from 2005 to 2009 under thenPresident Alvaro Uribe, who led a violent offensive against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
The country’s Special Peace
Tribunal, created under the 2016 peace accords that ended Colombia’s 50-year conflict, announced Saturday that it had begun the exhumation of at least 50 bodies, the largest such operation to date.
The work began last week at the Catholic Cemetery of Las Mercedes in Dabeiba, a town in the northwestern department of Antioquia, the tribunal said. It came after the panel heard ‘‘a series of voluntary testimonies,’’ including one from a former soldier who said he knew of false positives in the town.
The soldier, who was in custody, accompanied authorities to the cemetery, located on a small mountain. He spoke for an hour about his role in covering up civilian deaths, a human rights activist who was at the scene told The
Activist
Adriana
Arboleda, who represents victims through the local Legal Freedom Corporation, called the exhumation ‘‘an important step’’.
‘‘The tribunal is proving that it’s bringing to light cases that had been and would have remained unpunished,’’ she said. ‘‘It offers hope that the country will be able to know the truth and recover bodies. Things victims’ families have yearned for.’’
The tribunal said the first seven bodies of the more than 50 victims believed to be buried in the cemetery had been recovered. Most of the victims were between 15 and 56 years old, the panel said; some had disabilities.
Colombia’s main cities have been beset in recent weeks by mass demonstrations against the government of President Iva´n Duque – in part, protesters say, because he has failed to fully implement the peace accords signed by his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos.
Dozens of demobilised FARC members, including some who participated in the historic peace negotiations, have retaken arms and returned to the jungle to resume the fight. – Washington Post that long